PenRAD Imaging Network newsletter
September 2025
Welcome
Welcome to the latest edition of the PenRAD newsletter.
PenRAD is now over halfway through its fourth year of existence. It is worth remembering why imaging networks were formed in the first place. They were established to help address the impending crisis in provision of all diagnostic services as highlighted in Professor Mike Richards' independent review in 2020.
Please excuse my oversimplification, but the overarching purpose is to employ more staff with more equipment to provide more tests/procedures, faster and more equitably.
To this end, and despite huge challenges, our network trusts have made significant progress with an average year-on-year increase in activity of 7%, with improved recruitment rates and gradually reducing waiting times for examinations and their reports.
The network has played a significant role in helping to achieve this and is now designated as 'maturing' on the NHS maturity matrix.
The new 2025/26 financial year brings with it unprecedented financial challenges to all acute trusts in England, and significant concerns regarding our ability to continue to improve our services.
We have received strong reassurance from the national team and the Royal College Of Radiologists that they believe imaging networks should continue, and are working with the networks to address their financial sustainability.
We are confident of securing sufficient funds in the current year to manage, whilst we develop our approach to securing ongoing funding. We will do this by supporting trusts to operate as cost-effectively as possible, by minimising vacancies, creating the best IT environment for reporting, and reducing outsourced expenditure with our insourced alternative. This year will be our opportunity to prove these initiatives can make savings and be sustainable.
Detailed below you will find some snapshots of the work PenRAD has been doing. As always I would encourage you all to engage and support the network. Huge thanks go to the many of you who already do.
How the network is performing
Thank you to everyone across Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly who supports imaging services in the peninsula. With your help, we have made good progress as a network in delivering projects, joined-up procurement, and creating savings for all four trusts.
Our infographic above captures some of these highlights and you can read more details on the website.
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Future network funding
// SAM TO PROVIDE — OR INCLUDE IN ANDREW'S INTRO
Annual meeting and SIRP learning event and celebration
Thursday 6 November, Roadford Lake, Lifton, Devon
A reminder to please RSVP if you've received an invitation to our annual event, as numbers are limited and we want to maximise the available places.
The day will be split into two parts:
- Morning, 9am-2pm: PenRAD annual meeting
- Afternoon, 1-5pm: Shared Insourced Reporting Programme (SIRP) learning event and celebration
We will cover the Peninsula Imaging Network's progress in its mission to combine our expertise and improve diagnosis across Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. This event will be an opportunity to help shape the network's continuing development, and how we improve services for patients and address system challenges.
The event is open to people working in imaging in the peninsula. If you would like to attend, please email us to express an interest.
Shared Insourced Reporting
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Shared Insourced Reporting is managed on behalf of the four trusts in the Devon and Cornwall peninsula by the PenRAD Imaging Network.
SIRP aims to reduce the use of outsourcing companies, by using Radiologists already working in the region to carry out additional work, that is in common to all trusts and allows for cross-site reporting. This means that the programme can offer Radiologists favourable rates too.
We’re pleased that since the programme started last August so many Radiologists have joined the scheme and are giving us helpful feedback.
Now is a good time to consider joining SIRP and getting involved in a scheme that offers mutual benefit for Radiologists, trusts, and especially for patients whose diagnosis and care may happen faster as a result.
Next steps for the programme include working on opening up the scheme to Reporting Radiographers, looking at how we can facilitate off payroll payment mechanisms and how we can manage retirees reporting for the programme.
Here is some of the feedback we've received so far:
‘The process is flexible, easy to use and highly efficient. It allows us to support the NHS in the peninsula to provide the best possible radiology service without paying a premium to the outsourcing companies.’
‘The system has worked extremely well where I have reported for a hospital outside Plymouth. I have no hesitation in recommending the programme to any interested colleagues who may wish to join us in increasing the reporting capacity available to our patients through this mechanism.’
AI update
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An artificial intelligence (AI) tool, designed to detect lung nodules on CT scans, is now live in all of the peninsula network trusts.
While very common, sometimes a nodule can be the first sign of a cancer in the lung. Finding them earlier means they are potentially more treatable.
The PenRAD Imaging Network made a successful bid to the government’s £21m Artificial Intelligence Diagnostics Fund (AIDF) to fund the technology from AI provider Qure.ai for two years.
We don’t know yet whether this speeds up diagnosis or treatment; the purpose of the AIDF funding is to evaluate its effectiveness.
The tool uses AI to assist in the reporting of scans by experienced radiologists. qCT provides clinicians with an additional AI-generated overlay on a CT scan, that shows additional information about the size and/or growth of any nodules over time.
This helps determine whether action needs to be taken sooner or later, or is not required at all. Around 1,200 chest CT scans are being processed from patients each week across all four NHS trusts in the region.
Network digital management of non-medical referrers
PenRAD has been successful in securing £300k from NHS England to deliver a single digital network solution for managing non-medical referrers (NMRs) in the peninsula.
This will include standardising processes, creating a suite of training materials, and developing a digital management tool. The project also involves digitising the post-entitlement management process, which includes ongoing audits of referral practices and refresher training for re-entitlement. The aim is to create a blueprint that can be adopted by other imaging networks or regions.
The project will run until March 2026, with benefits expected to include the development of consistent training requirements and processes, improving understanding of ionising radiation regulations and magnetic safety requirements, and removing delays for aspiring NMRs.
By harnessing a wider range of clinical colleagues' knowledge and expertise, it's hoped the project will reduce pressure on acute hospitals and improve the quality of imaging referrals.
Showcasing careers in clinical imaging
We're getting ready for another series of careers events across the peninsula, following the success of our outreach programme last year.
The next 'Discover Diagnostics' events will be:
- 20 September 2025: SWITA, Plymouth - Morning session / Afternoon session
- 11 October 2025, 9am-12.30pm: Medical Education Centre, North Devon District Hospital, Barnstaple – details here
- 22 November 2025: Horizon Centre, Torbay - Morning session / Afternoon session
- 24 January 2026: University of Exeter - Morning session / Afternoon session
- 28 February: Knowledge Spa, Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro (details tbc)
These events are held on Saturdays. Click the links for more details and to book a place.
Network shares good practice at UKIO
The PenRAD team were well-represented at this year's UK Imaging & Oncology conference in Liverpool in June. Strategic Planning Consultant Claire Higdon shared her reflections on how artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to support the CT lung cancer pathway, with a two-year ‘test drive’ funded by NHS England through the AI Diagnostic Fund.
Meanwhile PenRAD Clinical Director, Andrew Edwards, and Caroline Dunphy, Shared Insourced Reporting Programme Lead, shared their experience of setting up SIRP and the next steps in its development.
Pictured below (left to right) are Claire, Andrew and Caroline on stage.
Meet the team
Liam Charlton, Senior Data Analyst, PenRAD Imaging Network
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Latest workforce data
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Data update
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| Total demand | Total activity | |
|---|---|---|
 +6% |
+6% |
|
| 12 months to date | 1,618,743 | 1,718,284 |
| Previous 12 months | 1,450,510 | 1,532,390 |
The selected data above is for all four PenRAD trusts in the year to date (end March 2025). As of last month, both demand and activity are up 6% compared to the previous year.
Outpatient and GP data
| Urgency | April-March 2024 | April-March 2025 | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-week wait (2-week target) | 82.44% | 84.43% | +2.0% |
| Urgent (6-week target) | 87.08% | 89.26% | +2.2% |
| Routine (6-week target) | 77.56% | 78.33% | +0.8% |
| Urgency | April-March 2024 | April-March 2025 | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-week wait (2-week target) | 78.93% | 80.71% | +1.8% |
| Urgent (6-week target) | 83.17% | 84.16% | +1.0% |
| Routine (6-week target) | 97.30% | 97.50% | +0.2% |
Reporting times are monitored for adherence to NHS England's diagnostic imaging reporting turnaround times released in August 2023. It is generally assumed that these targets will be shortened in the near future, hence we apply a routine target of two rather than four weeks.
The PenRAD BI dashboard is now live, providing the network with access to monthly data for requests, activity, and reporting. Access to the BI report can be requested here. Users can also access the mobile-friendly version of the report using the Power BI app on Android/iOS.
